Ethnicity and Social Critique in Tony Hilleman’s Crime Fiction

within the United States and abroad, and, signifi cantly, within the US both among
white Americans and Native Americans.  is article discusses Hillerman’s detective
fi ction fi rstly within the tradition of the genre and then focuses on particular themes
and literary means the writer employs in order to disseminate knowledge about the
Southwestern nations (tribes) among his readers using the framework of mystery
(crime) fi ction. Hillerman’s two literary detectives Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and
Sergeant Jim Chee, both of the Navajo Tribal Police, are analyzed and contrasted with
female characters. Finally, the article analyzes the ways in which Hillerman makes the
detectives’ intimate knowledge of the traditions, beliefs and rituals of the southwestern
tribes and of the rough beauty of the landscape central to the novels’ plots, and how
he presents cultural information.